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Session M14 - DCMP: HETEROSTRUCTURES: OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF QUANTUM WELLS: THEORY
Mixed session, Thursday morning, March 23, 8:00
Room J4, San Jose Convention Center
Numerical calculations of the absorption coefficient of a double quantum well (DWQ) structure are presented and the lineshape is analyzed as a function of the doping density. In these calculations, the single particle energies are obtained in the Hartree approximation. A self-consistent field theory is formulated for the absorption coefficient \beta_abs and the refractive index n_r for the DQW system. The peaks in \beta_abs correspond to interband transitions resulting in the resonant absorption of light. The peaks n_r are slightly shifted from those in \beta_abs because the n_r involve both the real and imaginary parts of the response function whereas the \beta_abs is directly proportional to the imaginary part of the response and inversely proportional to the refractive index. There is interference between the real and imaginary parts when the derivative of the absorption coefficient is taken with respect to frequency, which greatly modifies the lineshape in the absorption spectrum.